African countries have an opportunity to embark on more interconnected trade in the wake of the new African Continental Free Trade Area. This theme of interconnectivity resonates with China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a massive infrastructure and services expansion project that forms the centerpiece of President Xi Jinping’s foreign policy. At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic and its resultant financial crisis are battering the African continent, it is even more crucial to boost trade. China is the African continent’s largest bilateral trading partner and trade will top the agenda of the triennial Forum on China–Africa Cooperation summit slated to take place in Senegal later this year. What opportunities will emerge from linking China’s Belt and Road Initiative to Africa via the African Continental Free Trade Area? And what will be some of the challenges? This paper offers perspectives on current developments in the Belt and Road Initiative and the African Continental Free Trade Area. It also highlights both the complementarities and challenges arising from linking the two initiatives and gives readers a primer on the major points of discussion at the upcoming China–Africa summit. One of the conclusions reached is that while significant complementarities exist and there is interest from the Chinese side, linking the Belt and Road Initiative and the African Continental Free Trade Area poses some risks to African economies. A more coordinated African response is therefore needed to grasp available opportunities without sacrificing too many competitive advantages.
